Canucks' Roberto Luongo's been awesome, so Cory Schneider gets start
For much of Roberto Luongo's six years as a Vancouver Canuck, a Special Forces extraction team couldn't have removed the goaltender from his crease no matter how many goals he gave up. But after a 38-save, 1-0 shutout win Monday against the Los Angeles Kings, Luongo will watch Cory Schneider play tonight.
Two weeks before the National Hockey League playoffs begin, this is significant.
It's almost unheard of in Vancouver, where there has been a black-and-white clarity between starter and backup for more than a decade and at least three managerial regimes.
We have all wondered when - if ever - Canuck coach Alain Vigneault's meritbased ideals about lineups and ice time would be applied also to the goaltending position. It appears that time has come. And if it's not quite yet, it could be in two weeks when the Canucks begin another expedition toward the Stanley Cup.
Schneider playing ahead of Luongo in the playoffs? Based on protocol, if not performance, that would have seemed outrageous only a month ago. And it remains unlikely, at least at the start of the Stanley Cup tournament.
Granville Island is a small island and shopping district in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in False Creek directly across from Downtown Vancouver's peninsula, under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge.
